crash into hello
by totaldile
Summary: in which nico and maki strand themselves on an uninhabited planet, and attempt to not die. space au/starbound au


Space travel really wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Even with a hyper-drive at max throttle, it still took three or so days to hop from system to system, which made inter-galactic travel, quite frankly, a nuisance.

Nico threw her head back, bag of Galactoritos falling to the floor, and let out the 3,672nd groan of her journey thus far. She'd been keeping count, because there sure wasn't anything better to do on a long-ass journey from the 2nd Quadrant of the Gamma Sector to the 4th Quadrant of the Delta Sector. It was a four day trip, and Nico had – according to the clock – just hit the third Floran day. Whilst her studies at the Protectorate had left her with plenty of knowledge to navigate by other time systems, it still felt more natural to use the one she'd grown up with. 10 hour days, 10 hour nights.

Nico let out groan number 3,673 before sitting up, grabbing her bag of Galactoritos and shoving a handful of cheesy dust into her mouth. The bag was as good as empty, but like hell she was throwing out the best part.

Her screen beeped as it alerted her of the presence of another approaching planet – Procyon Minoris III. The entire star system was a bunch of uninhabited sanctuary planets – no good to land on for refuelling or a snack stop, unfortunately. Still, the screen brought up some pretty pictures when she tapped on the name.

Nico's eyes glanced upwards though, as she saw what looked like another ship heading straight for her. Her palms sweated, leaving the control panel sticky as she ran through who it could be – the Galactic Police? _Homeworld?_ – before reassuring herself that no, she definitely hadn't broken the law this time, and Homeworld ships didn't look like that, anyway. Which meant that the ship that was growing much, much larger by the second was probably just some random. Nobody Nico needed to worry about, anyway.

Except, well. The other ship didn't seem to be steering away – if anything, upon closer inspection, the ship didn't seem to know _which_ direction it was headed in. The blue hue of the ship and fin-like appendages attached to all sides identified it as clearly Hylotlan – which made the whole thing even more odd, because Hylotl were renowned for their impressive driving skills. Something was very clearly off here.

She opened voice comm, hoping to get a line with the obviously _clueless_ driver and maybe tell them to _steer the hell away from her ship before they send the both of them careening into the nearest atmosphere._ Unfortunately, the only response she got was static. It was protocol to have comms open upon passing another ship, in case an emergency message needed to be passed along, but really, with driving like that, she shouldn't have expected anything.

Instead of waiting and hoping any longer, Nico licked the sap off her palms (and cheesy dust off her fingers) and fired up the engines. Well, attempted to, but it wasn't like her ship was a recent model, and so they took a little warming up. Which wasn't a good thing, considering the Hylotlan ship still hadn't changed course and _oh fuck if the engines didn't kick in right about now they were going to collide which was bad bad bad considering they were miles from civilisation and fuck fuck fuck –_

Nico took a deep breath, folded her fingers, rested her elbows on the control panel, and accepted her fate.

The impact hit her like an asteroid, crushing the front of her ship and probably badly damaging the engine. But, well, she had a basic repair kit in the back, so she could probably inch along to the next inhabited system, provided she got lucky and didn't hit any asteroid belts along the way (the first one was a real adventure).

Nico released groan number 3,674 as she realised the planet below her was getting bigger. At least her screen was still working – she was about to crash into Procyon Minoris III, which meant at least she knew where she was, and Planet Studies class had taught her that there were almost always communication stations set up on sanctuary planets, probably, and –

Nico rubbed her temples as she saw the blue Hylotl ship hurtle past her towards Procyon Minoris III. She gave up counting her groans as her vision went black.

When Nico awoke, her bum was still firmly attached to her seat, which was good. The problem lay in the fact that her seat was no longer attached to her ship, which was not so good.

It took her a few seconds, but eventually she realised she was upside-down, too. Vines had tangled themselves around the seat and her person, keeping her bum remarkably comfortable, and the rest of her relatively immobile. She gave it a firm wiggle though, though she didn't make much in the way of progress. It was somewhat frustrating, considering the ground was _right there_ and she couldn't so much as reach out and touch it. Instead, she got to sit there, wiggle a little more, enjoy the comfort of a standard issue RocketShip™ Hyper-Seat™ on her bum, and watch the gorgeous scenery.

She'd landed in some kind of forest, where the canopy above was a mix of feather-fluff leaves in cotton candy, royal purple and honeydew. She couldn't identify the trees from sight – a Biologist would be better for that, not a Protector – but she knew enough to know that thank god, she hadn't landed in anything toxic. Well, toxic to Floran, anyway. Through the gaps in the trees, she could just barely make out a smoking heap a few tree-lengths away – the Hylotlan ship. Hopefully, if the brainless driver survived, Nico would have someone coming to look for her eventually.

Eventually, as it turned out, was a damned long time. Nico saw the sun rise at least twice before she saw the stir of movement in the bushes behind her and promptly wiggled around to face the moron who'd left the both of them stranded, and – Nico let out another groan. Small red fins, a fragile frame, webbed fingers – she was a Hylotl, all right. A wealthy one too, considering the elaborate kimono. The only problem was that the girl looked hardly old enough to be on a Learner's license, let alone driving a proper _ship._ Nico felt her strength leave her. She wasn't here to play babysitter; she was on her first actual real mission and she _really_ didn't need some red-finned Hylotl princess screwing things up for her. She'd worked hard enough to get where she was.

However, the Hylotl didn't so much as toss her a glance before she began rifling through Nico's ship, tearing the (admittedly, ruined) hull off and climbing inside.

 _"Hey!"_ Nico called in Common, praying that the Hylotl weren't like that _one_ Avian cult she'd met and had actually taught their people Common. The red-fin paused in her rummaging, finally offered Nico a glance. Instantly, the girl's three eyes widened in fear, and she fell back into the ship, before nervously popping her head over the remainder of the hull.

"Wh," she mumbled, "what is it…?"

Nico frowned. She would have rubbed her temple given the opportunity, but she was a little tied up at that moment.

"Uh, you're rummaging through my _ship_ ," she exclaimed, wiggling about as best she could to try and communicate – something, "Not to mention you're the one who _crashed_ us here in the first place."

"Well," the Hylotl developed a spine, apparently, because all of a sudden she stood up and folded her arms, huffing, "Maybe you should have moved."

"I'm sorry, when I'm cruising at galactic speed limits in out of the way star systems, I don't expect to have to suddenly dodge a haphazard Hylotl," Nico said, throwing out as much classic Floran venom as she could muster into her tone. The Hylotl, damn her, seemed unimpressed.

"Maybe you should learn to drive better," she said, examining the webbing between her fingers. Nico _fumed_.

"You _little ssshit,_ " she hissed, "Jussst who do you think you are?"

"Ah, there's the classic Floran slur. I was wondering where it was. And for reference, I'm Maki, only daughter to the Emperor of Daivs-II, of the 1st Quadrant of the Delta Sector."

Well, it made sense, but it didn't exactly make Nico feel any better.

"I've been raisssed better than my kin." Nico grumbled, wincing at the slight, unintentional hiss in her voice. "Now, fish-face, once I get down from here, you and I are going to hightail it to the communication centre on this planet as fast as we can."

"Who says I'm going anywhere with you?" Maki huffed, re-folding her arms in what was probably an effort to be even _more_ obnoxious (it was working).

"Well, the fact that you came to find me is a pretty fair indicator."

"I was just coming to rummage for spare parts," she says, then mumbles, "or something…"

Nico frowns, ceasing her wiggling for a moment.

"...have you ever even fixed a ship before?"

"Well, no, but – "

" – then you're not going anywhere fast and," Nico did her best to gesture towards the vines, but it probably just looked like more wiggling, "neither am I. There's a pocketknife under the control panel, by the way."

Maki rolled her eyes, but vanished for a second anyway, and returned with pocketknife in hand. With a little bit of effort, she managed to cut through several vines, enough so that Nico's wiggling was sufficient to free her from her viney prison and plant her face-first into the forest floor. The Hylotl smirked.

Dignity long gone, she wiped the dirt from her face and swept her head-leaves back, dusting off her hands.

"Right," she started, except she didn't actually know where to start, because she had no idea what was working and what wasn't. Maki looked at her expectantly, smirk growing as Nico came up with a whole lot of jack shit.

"Uh," she fumbled for words, something to say that would make her seem like an actual Protector and not just some kid in space like a certain _someone –_ "How much of your ship is salvageable?"

The smirk dropped from the Hylotl's face, and she winced.

"Not much. Maybe my food survived?"

Nico's face fell flat. Perfect.

"We'll just have to make do with what I have in mine," she grumbled, making her way over to her ship and leaping inside. Much to her dismay, the control screen was cracked all over, which would be _insanely_ expensive to repair. All of the money for her next five missions, probably. More, considering living costs. _Ugh._ On the plus side, the screen was still technically functional (if barely), and control panel seemed to work ok. Which was good, for now. Meant the ship was repairable, anyway.

Nico brought up the on-planet navigation system, and attempted to search for a communication centre. As if to cut her some slack, after only a brief delay, the system came up with a picture of the centre, and directions.

"Alright, we're headed directly north-east from here. Should take us one and a half Floran days," she called, expecting Maki to still be waiting outside.

"I'm right here, you don't need to yell," the Hylotl whined, covering her ear flaps. Nico jolted upwards in surprise, donking her head on the roof of the ship (it was just because it was on an angle, okay). She took a sniff out of habit – Maki smelled _good._ Nico had refrained from smelling the Hylotl at the Protectorate too closely out of respect, but this one had just thrown herself into her personal space, so it was fair game, right? Not that she was thinking of eating Maki (that sort of thing was kind of disgusting – Hylotl weren't _food_ fish), she just – smelled really nice. Better than any other Hylotl she'd met, anyway.

"R-right," Nico muttered, tugging her leaves downwards.

"How long are Floran days…?" Maki asked, adopting a confused expression.

"Roughly 0.8 of a Hylotl day. So it'll take us one Hylotl day, and a bit more."

"Oh."

Nico rummaged through her various storage cabinets, pulling out her medkit and (tearfully) her secret stash of Galactoritos. Which was all of two jumbo bags.

"I hope you like cheesy corn chips, 'cause that's all we got for food," Nico sighed, clutching one of the bags to her chest.

"I've never had…Galactoritos…" Maki furrowed her brow as she picked up a bag, examining the packaging with a hesitant eye. "These look unhealthy."

"Oh, they are," Nico affirmed, nodding. "They're also insanely delicious."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Right, then – _ah,_ " Nico jolted again, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the roof, then scrambled outside of the spacecraft and starting searching hurriedly through the vines. "Oh no no no please don't tell me I've lost it I literally cannot replace this _ahhhhhhhhh_!"

Maki followed suit a little slower, looking utterly bewildered.

"What? What is it?"

Nico turned back to Maki, crouched in the dirt, face distraught.

"It'sss my matter manipulator, I've _lossst_ it!"

"You mean…this?" Maki pulled a yellow device from the bushes behind the ship. Nico felt her heart leap for joy.

"Yesss, god, fuck, thank you," Nico cradled the device in her arms as Maki handed it over, "I worked hard for three yearsss to earn thisss."

Maki blinked all three of her eyes, and tilted her head.

"So – wait. You're a Protector?" she asked, looking almost genuinely impressed.

Nico nodded, baring toothy thorns as she grinned, "Sssure am."

"I would've thought you'd be a better driver then."

Nico took a very, very deep breath in order to not deck the Hylotl in the face.

"Anyway, now that we have this, we should be good to go. I presume you're okay with sleeping in a tree?"

Maki fidgeted, made an uncomfortable expression, "I'd really rather be in the water…"

"Well, too bad. It's on the ground or in a tree. This is a sanctuary planet, so there are groundprowlers that can eat you here, but you can't hurt them – it's a galactic offence," Nico said, beginning to walk, gesturing over her shoulder for the Hylotl to follow.

Eventually, she heard the pitter patter of footsteps follow after her.

"Jeez, why did I have to get stuck here with a Floran?"

"Feeling's mutual, pal."

Procyon Minoris III, beautiful as it was, was a lot less beautiful when one was trying to hack and slash a path through the undergrowth whilst doing a little damage to said undergrowth as possible.

"Can my Matter Manipulator manipulate matter any _ssslower,_ thanksss?" Nico hissed, frustrated at their (lack of) progress. Maki was patiently quiet behind her, but even the princess's patience was starting to wear thin. She was attempting to dig footholds in the mud wall ahead of them so they could climb it, but the tiny pieces of coal buried in it were really slowing down progress.

"Uh," The Hylotl said behind her, but Nico really wasn't paying attention because this _stupid_ mudwall really, really did not want to co-operate. She threw a lump of coal at it, which did absolutely nothing to help, but admittedly did make Nico feel a little better.

"Nico…" Maki said, warningly, as Nico finally finished the last foothold.

" _What_?" Nico whirled around to face the Hylotl, annoyed, but followed Maki's finger to where something rather large stood. Tall, with black fur, a cream belly. Long snout. Staring at them.

"What's that…?" Maki asked, appropriately intimidated by this large, mole-ish thing.

"An Adult Poptop," Nico swallowed, "Omnivores. Terrible eyesight, but they can sense vibrations in the ground."

"Oh."

Nico looked Maki in the eyes.

" _Run._ "

The two of them scrambled up the footholds and on top of the mud wall – Nico quicker, Maki lagging behind. Nico paused at the top, offered a hand and practically dragged the Hylotl higher, then dashed away once she was up and over. Maki kept pace, surprisingly quick for a Hylotl, even if she lacked the natural Hylotlan agility (or maybe Nico's Protectorate training really had made a difference. Go figure.)

"So, uh, why are we still running?" Maki asked, voice breathy, high-pitched, "Didn't we leave it behind at the mud wall?"

"They can – " Nico turned her head back to see the Poptop thundering after them on all fours, " – jump."

"Oh."

The two of them sprinted through the undergrowth, Nico nearly running straight into a branch at head-height (Maki held it back for her just in time, not that Nico would ever admit it. Damned tall Hylotl). It really was hard to take in the scenery, such as imminent obstacles when you were running for your life and all. Except, well, Nico jolted to a stop at Maki's scream (who knew a Hylotl could go _that_ high? Impressive, really. Nico wondered if she were a good singer), and once again, followed Maki's fingers to yet another Poptop, staring right at them. The other one galumphed into the clearing, leaving them trapped on both sides.

Maki withered, and Nico, admittedly, wondered how long it'd be before her life flashed before her eyes, but then – Maki hugged the nearest tree, and started trying to climb it.

"Good idea," Nico huffed, scurrying up the same tree without much trouble at all, before realising Maki was falling behind again and _oh fuck_ pulled her up without much regard for her own balance, came toppling down and just barely caught herself on the bark, sticky palms for once a blessing as Nico once again scaled the tree to safety, her leaves standing on end. The two Poptops patrolled the base of the tree, growling. Maki (eventually) hauled herself to the same branch Nico clung to, breathing hard. Then again, it wasn't like Nico was doing any better. Near death experiences tended to more or less leave you feeling dead anyway (she was never the fittest one in any of her classes, anyway).

"Alrighty," Nico muttered, "Let's ix-nay on the near death experiences, I've already nearly died twice today. I think that's enough."

Maki, for whatever reason, giggled – probably at Nico's misfortune, but it was enough to lighten the mood a little. Took away from the Poptops prowling on the ground, anyway.

"It's night-time on this planet already," Maki wondered, looking at the sky – already a dark purple. It was interesting, Nico noted, the colour of the night sky on different planets. On Homeworld, it'd always been a fierce, deep red, but she'd seen other colours, too – deep greens, dark blues, even blacks where the atmosphere was clear. Purple, however, was a first.

"We should probably get some sleep, soon. Poptops don't like light, so they'll be gone when the sun rises."

"Mm," Maki nodded, reaching into her pack and pulling out rope. Nico felt rather confused – what exactly would she be using a rope for way up in a tree?

The Hylotl wrapped it around the tree trunk, and then tied herself to the tree. Nico snickered to herself, but opted against commenting. Still, though – Hylotl never got any less strange. Nico curled up on the branch, did her best to ignore the rumbling of the Poptops below, and attempted to sleep.

Sunlight had no manners, really, waking Nico up so early. She barely felt like she'd closed her eyes since last night – and sure, perhaps it was a good thing she was up and ready to move, but that didn't make the morning any more welcome. Nico covered her eyes with her leaves, before finally admitting ok yes she was up and awake, thank you sunlight.

"Maki, it's morning, time to haul ass," she yawned, going over to shake the Hylotl awake – except the Hylotl wasn't there. Which was problematic, considering the rope was still very much there, and her pack was still very much there, and – _oh god what if she fell –_

Nico scuttled down the tree as quick as she call, called out the girl's name to hear nothing but the sneeze of a nearby Gleap, and fuck _fuck –_

"Maki!" Nico yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. There were a bunch of trampled bushes off the right – hopefully, hopefully she'd find what she was looking for (a fish-faced moron) if she followed them. Nico briefly entertained the amusing concept of the Hylotl tripping over the bushes (she couldn't figure out how else the girl had squashed them so much), before returning to feeling maybe just a little worried. Not that Nico couldn't make it to the communication centre on her own, just – ugh.

"Hm?" came a familiar voice from around the bend, where the Hylotl sat at the edge of a stream, wrapping odd plants around sticks. "What is it?"

"Oh, I thought you were dead."

Maki offered Nico a flat look. "Well, thanks for looking for my corpse."

"You're welcome."

Nico crouched down, picking up one of the sticks and sniffing the plant material.

"So, uh," she scratched her head, "what are you doing?"

"I found a plant from Homeworld. Look," Maki said, taking one of the sticks and dipping in into the stream. As she removed the stick from the water, it ignited, sparking into a weak blue flame. Nico felt her jaw drop a little. It was actually…kinda cool.

"You said the Poptops didn't like light, so I figured having some way to make fire might be useful, if we get caught again," Maki said, dropping the stick in the stream and watching it float away. (Nico thought that might be kind of dangerous, but she seemed to know what she was doing, so why not?)

"Good idea, fish-face." Nico said, trying not to sound too impressed, "Anyway, uh. We should probably get moving, if you're done here."

Maki nodded, gathering the sticks she'd made together and following Nico back to the tree. Once she retrieved her pack from the higher branch, she removed a bag of Galactoritos, and waved it at Maki. The silver packaging crinkled and scrunching in a satisfying manner.

"Hungry?" she asked, but Maki shook her head, still looking wary of the corn chips. "They're not gonna kill you, ya know."

"I'll take you word for it."

Nico rolled her eyes, but began to head north-east again. She hoped they were still roughly on-course – seemed like they were. Probably. Hopefully. Aha.

Maki went characteristically silent as the duo made their way through, surprise surprise, more obnoxiously thick undergrowth. Nico had long given up on using her Matter Manipulator to move plants out of the way; it was much more time-efficient to bash leaves and vines and roots out of the way. It also meant a lot more tripping over, but hey, what was a little dirt to a Floran?

Thankfully, during the day, most of the fauna on the planet had the decency to leave them alone. A Capricoat did stare menacingly at them, but it was probably just territorial, or something (Nico began to really wish they had a Biologist with them). Ringram zoomed past them, though they were only moderately terrifying in the moment they whizzed past your side. All you'd feel was a brief gust of wind, and off they'd go. It was…unsettling, but as long as they didn't hit you, you were fine. Probably. Nico still felt unsettled.

The endless stream of featherfluff trees was beginning to thin as the sun hit the highest point of the sky, and Nico could see something deep blue through the trees. When they broke, Nico was greeted with a sunny beach, and an endless stream of sparkling blue. Which would have been great, y'know if she were here for a holiday and not desperately trying to find the communication station. Nico glanced at her compass, just to make sure that north-east was definitely across the ocean and not in a strikingly more convenient place.

"Ahh, thank goodness…I was beginning to think I'd never see water again," Maki sighed, unhelpfully. Nico had never really understood the Hylotl obsession with water – if you could live on the ground as well as you could underwater, why live underwater at all?

"Well, I'm glad you like water so much, because we're swimming." Nico prayed the ocean wasn't actually as big as it looked. Swimming wasn't exactly one of her favourite past-times. Her palms were sticky with sap again.

Maki tilted her head, looking back towards the trees, and said, "Well, I have a better idea."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" Thank god.

"Get me one of those huge leaves from up that tree. You're," the girl choked on her words, then continued like nothing had happened. Nico suppressed a snicker, "better at climbing trees than I am."

"Uh, okay?"

Nico questioned the girl's methods, but it wasn't like she was particularly keen to swim, either. If the Hylotl had even a fraction of an idea that would help them get across quicker, it was worth entertaining. Besides, Maki had had at least one (one) good idea early, with the fire stick things. She was still a terrible driver, but at least the girl had her uses.

As Nico started to climb, she glanced down to check what the Hylotl girl was actually doing – gathering sticks and weaving them together, somehow. It didn't look particularly sturdy, but Maki kept reinforcing them, over and over again with some stringy substance from the forest. Nico shrugged, and made her way up the tree. The huge leaves were right at the top and – honestly quite a lot bigger up close than they looked from down on the ground. Bigger than herself, for sure. Which only made it more confusing why the Hylotl wanted a big-ass leaf, but okay. Fish people were weird, that much Nico could understand. It didn't take much to detach one, also it did float sadly to the ground as she lost her grip on it immediately after pulling it off. Still, it didn't seem to break or be damaged by the fall, so she shrugged and scuttled down the tree.

"Okay, fish-face, I got your leaf. What now?" Nico started, scratching at her neck and sweeping her head-leaves back.

"Thanks," Maki said, her tone dry, but the girl accepted the leaf, attached it with vines to some pole she'd stuck in the middle, and – okay well the woven platform of sticks did look a lot bigger when she was on the ground, so did that mean that the Hylotl had literally just pulled a raft out of her ass because Nico _swore to_ –

"There." Maki flashed a brilliant ( _ugh_ ) toothy grin. "How about we sail, instead of swim? I heard Florans aren't much a fan of water."

Nico didn't really know why, but she had a sudden urge to slug the girl, just for the smug look on her face. However much she wanted to however, logic told her that _maybe_ biting the hand that was current saving her aquaphobic ass was probably not the best idea.

"Okay, but does it actually float?" Nico settled for a pale criticism, her wit vanishing as she battled with gratitude.

Maki frowned, hauled the raft onto the ocean and gestured with both arms. Nico stared at it.

"Oh, it does. Nice."

Maki gave her another pointed look, but shrugged, "Anyway, get on."

Nico looked at the raft, which was gently floating probably a tree's width away from the shore. Too far to jump safely, if she had to guess. Definitely too far to just step onto. The Floran approached the shore, stepping backwards at the waves lapped at the sand. It wasn't that she _couldn't_ get wet she'd just really rather not, the salt would really dry out her leaves, and –

"What is it?" Maki continued to frown (Nico wondered if her only expressions were frowning and smug asshole grins). "Get on the raft unless you want to swim."

"Uh, well y'see – " Nico struggled to find a way to word her discomfort without seeming like a total weenie. "I mean, the raft is kind of quite a distance from the shore now, and I'd definitely weigh it down if I got wet, so I was just thinking, maybe you could go get it, and bring it back for me, and it wouldn't matter that you got wet because the water would just slide off your smooth supple skin, and – "

Nico paused in her rambling as the Hylotl proceeded to lift her over her head.

"Uh." Nico said, both impressed by how strong Maki was and also bewildered as to why she was suddenly being lifted.

Then, she found herself soaring through the air, and landed face-first into the raft.

Well. Okay. That was one solution to the problem. Nico rubbed her cheek gingerly. The Hylotl vanished from the shore under the waves, then reappeared moments later and slithered onto the raft. Nico scuttled to the side to avoid being dripped on.

"Ow?" The Floran commented, still rubbing her cheek. Maki shrugged.

"You're on the raft, aren't you?"

Nico didn't really have a good comeback for that, so instead she focussed on clinging to the mast-stick for dear life and praying that the boat wouldn't suddenly break and leave her stranded in salt water forever.

Maki, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, tugging at the vines this way and that until the raft began to move. Nico deduced the girl must have good abdominals. The pace of the boat began to pick up, and well – it wasn't like she'd really expected Maki to be able to do it, but here they were.

"I have to admit, fish-face, I'm a little impressed," Nico managed to comment, genuinely – because okay, maybe she'd sort of saved her ass, and yes this was a lot more convenient than swimming, so she figured it probably wouldn't hurt to admit so. Proud as she was, Nico had to give credit where it was due.

"This sort of thing is what we do all the time back home," Maki replied, eyes not looking at Nico but focussing out on the open sea, a warm smile on her face that Nico got the feeling probably wasn't from her reluctant comment. "Every Hylotlan child knows how to build a raft. We have championship races every year – naturally, I won. There's just nothing like being on the open sea."

Even just listening to the girl, Nico suddenly felt a fraction more respect for the salty hellscape they were sailing across. Maki looked completely different – gone was the brat who insisted Nico was the bad driver, replaced by someone who found wonder in the water and sailing, like it was her lifeblood.

She looked like she felt the same way Nico had when she'd first joined the Protectorate. Wonder was something rare, but it was one of the best feelings in the world. Instead of keeping up her spines, Nico let herself relax, and let her salt dissipate into the sea.

An hour or two later, they'd hit the shore again, just in time for the sun to yawn and begin sinking below the horizon (or what little they could see of it, through the featherfluff trees). Maki looked disappointed as they left the raft behind, casting forlorn glances behind her as they vanished deeper into the forest. There was some kind of ridge to the right – impossible to climb without significant effort (probably not worth it, considering the wildlife), but it meant that the trees were thinner on that side, and therefore they were able to move just that much faster.

"If we keep walking through the dark, we should be able to make it to the communication centre before midnight." Nico remarked, glancing at the compass on her matter manipulator. She'd seen the ridge on the screen in her ship before they'd left, so it was reassuring that they'd actually been going the right way this whole time (not that Nico really doubted Maki's ability to navigate on the open sea, she'd just worried).

"Oh, that's good," Maki seemed a little disappointed about something – probably the raft again. Hylotlans were just weird like that. Nico didn't really know what else to say, so she let them fall back into a slightly-less-than-comfortable silence.

She cast a glance up to the sky at the rumble of something that sounded suspiciously like thunder – deep green clouds had blanketed the sky, a stark change from the brighter purple. She hadn't thought to look up the climate of the planet before setting out, but green clouds were just a little ominous regardless.

"Ah," Nico felt something wet on her skin, blinked and looked up because oh, fantastic, great, it was _raining._ Except, well, the rain had an odd smell – nothing like the petrichor of homeworld – and an odd, pale green colour. Then it began to burn. _"Ahhhh."_

"Hm? What's wrong?" Maki tilted her head, held out a hand to feel the rain, but winced as a tiny puddle of it formed in her hand.

"I'm pretty sure this is acid rain," Nico grimaced as her head-leaves began to sting, bearing the brunt of the weather, "Which means we need to find shelter, right now immediately."

Maki nodded grimly, nearly as Nico broke into a run, tugging the Hylotl forwards by the wrist. She'd seen a cave up ahead, which hopefully was big to shelter the both of it, and – ah.

The two of them ducked into the cave – it wasn't even big enough to be able to stand upright in, but they could scuttle inside and sit down without too much trouble, which was fine enough, probably. Thinking about it, it was a lot less like a cave – hardly big enough for that – and more like a little rocky overhang. There was, thank fuck, just barely enough room to keep them both safe from the rain.

"Jeez, acid rain? This planet is ridiculous," Maki harrumphed, taking a seat and sighing. "I've never heard of a planet having acid rain before."

Nico decided not to tell her about the vast array of radioactive planets she'd visited in her Protectorate apprenticeship that had acid rain as the default weather. Granted, it was relatively rare for a Level 2 or lower planet to have it, so there was that.

"Mm," Nico mumbled, staring out into the falling droplets with dismay. It wasn't that she was disappointed or anything – it was actually quite nice to have some company, despite herself and despite the fact her companion was a bratty Hylotlan. It just would have been nice to have been able to make it home.

"Ah – " Maki had busied herself with setting up two of her fire sticks to ignite, holding them out into the rain and perching them on the floor to put together a makeshift fireplace. It burned blue and bright, warm.

"Thanks," Nico said, softly. The acid rain on her skin still stung, but not too much – they were better off in here than out there, certainly. Maki went quiet for a while, and Nico didn't really see the need to make conversation.

Instead, Nico's thoughts drifted back to her family – waiting for her return after the completion of her first mission, probably wondering why it was taking her so long to get back. She wondered if they'd tried to call her ship, if they'd worried that she hadn't picked up. Then again, they'd probably just assumed she was asleep.

She wondered if the Protectorate was worried about her, too.

"Hey," Maki said, after a long, long period of silence. Nico tilted her head. "what made you want to become a Protector?"

Nico blinked, took a dep breath, thought on it for a moment. Maki didn't rush her for a reply.

"I wanted to be a hero."

The Hylotl nearly choked.

Nico suppressed a chuckle. "Don't look at me like that; it's true. I wanted to explore new places, and help people all over the universe. I wanted my name to be a household one, for people to request my help."

Maki blinked. "No offense, but I expected you to say the money."

Nico did her best not to take offense, which was pretty difficult when someone had more or less accused you of being greedy and materialistic.

"The money is good, yeah," Nico shrugged, trying to play it off. It wasn't like she hadn't considered the generous pay-out, but – "I send most of it home to my family though."

"Oh." Maki went quiet again, the wry expression vanishing from her face.

"It's more like – I want to be able to help people, to make them smile when they see me." Nico continued, gesturing with her hands. "The universe is full of thieves and bandits and people who only look out for themselves, and – there's not a whole lot of people who're willing to stick up for the people who can't stick up for themselves. So, I want to be that kind of person."

Nico closed her eyes, smiled.

"I mean, I'm only a new Protector at the moment, but one day I'll be something great. I hope."

Maki blinked, mouth slightly agape.

"Oh." She said, quietly.

Nico felt just a little miffed that she'd spilled out her heart on her aspirations, her dream, and all the Hylotl had to say was "oh". She huffed, but shrugged.

"Why'd you run away from home?" Nico dared to ask, warming her hands over the fire.

Maki stayed quiet, unresponsive, staring into the fire, so Nico figured she was being ignored, which was fine. Cool. She opened her single bag of Galactoritos – felt her stomach rumble at the smell. She'd been so busy thinking about other things she'd forgotten just how hungry she was. There was just something so satisfying at crunching into a cheesy, delicious Galactorito chip.

"I didn't want to be stuck at home all my life," Maki said, suddenly. Nico barely escaped choking on a chip, swallowing it painfully and trying not to look like she'd nearly died. Thankfully, the Hylotl didn't seem to notice.

"You couldn't leave?"

Maki shook her head, shrugged.

"Hylotlan officials spend all their time in the palace. I was hardly allowed to go outside – only for sailing competitions, or other things. I just – " she frowned, " – wanted to see the world. To make my own choices."

Nico felt another twinge of respect for the girl. Well – it wasn't like she'd done anything much different. Florans hardly ever became Protectors – most preferred to maintain their primitive lifestyle, conquering other planets at their leisure. It was a rarity that one chose to forgo that life (and by extension, their people) to become a Protector.

"I get it," Nico said, catching Maki in the eyes. "You made a good decision."

"Thanks," Maki said, looking halfway surprised.

Their silence picked up again – the only noise being the drizzle of the rain and the crackling of Maki's Magic Firesticks™. Nico felt the urge to break it, and also maybe she was just curious.

"So, where were you headed when you crashed into my ship?"

Maki paled, looked moderately embarrassed, then huffed and shrugged, "Anywhere but home, I guess."

"So you don't really have any idea of what you're gonna do after this?"

"Nope."

"That's a terrible runaway strategy, I hope you're aware."

"Can you hear that?" Maki put her hand to her ear. Nico tilted her head.

"No?"

"That's the sound of me not asking for your opinion."

Nico grumbled, rolling her eyes. Instead, she caught sight of something on the wall behind them.

"Hey, fish-face, move outta the way a sec?" Nico crawled to the wall behind Maki, pressing her hands to the stone.

"I think," Nico said, "there's something carved here."

Maki blinked, felt the wall, and widened her eyes.

"Huh. You're right."

They both moved out of the way to allow the firelight to illuminate the cave wall. What was carved there was a large heart shape, with the letters "N + E" in the center. Which was odd, considering this was a sanctuary planet, and thus illegal for people to damage in any way.

"It looks old," the Hylotl commented, "like, it's been water damaged a bit over time. I wonder how old it actually is."

"Huh," Nico said, feeling the carvings again. A heart shape…probably meant that two lovers had spent time here. Which means she was sitting in the exact same spot two lovers had been in, with some random Hylotl. Nico felt her face burn at the thought, and decided that sleeping right not immediately was the best cause of action. She had no idea if Maki had cottoned on to the implications, but she wasn't about to ask.

"I'm pretty tired." She said, trying to play it off, "We should sleep."

Nico lay down on her side, turning away from the fire. Her empty packet of Galactoritos crinkled as she rolled on it.

"Oh, okay. Night," Maki said, presumably lying down too.

It took Nico several hours of feeling somewhat flustered before she could actually settle down and sleep.

The night vanished and took the rain with it, whilst Nico awoke to the nudge of a slimy foot, and rolled over to find three eyes staring at her.

"It's morning. Let's go." Maki said, pointedly. The fire was out – Maki had already woken up or something, and obviously cleared it out.

"Uh, okay," she said, grabbing her Matter Manipulator, rolling to her feet and yawning. Her eyes were still sap-sticky, tired. Maki led the way, apparently confident her in sense of direction despite Nico being the one with the compass.

"Maki, it's this way," Nico gestured to Maki's left, and the Hylotl promptly turned around and started walking in the direction indicated wordlessly. Nico raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She was still tired.

The featherfluff trees were just as thick here – thought the leaves were beginning to change from pastel colours to darker, more normal colours. Pink into red, cream into yellow, sky blue into – well, blue. Nico really didn't have any idea what it meant, but it was a change of scenery, at least. She let Maki lead, too tired to really pay attention to her surroundings.

"Uh," Maki said, thought Nico barely heard her. She considered it for a moment, but figured if the girl wasn't going to elaborate then she may as well ignore her.

"Nico," Maki said again, and Nico crashed into the Hylotl's back. "Didn't you say Poptops didn't like light?"

Nico sneezed. "Uh, yeah."

"Well…"

Nico rubbed her eyes to find a plethora of mole creatures growling at the two of them. Truly, a perfect wake-up call.

The two of them bolted out of there without so much as a second thought.

"I really, really hate this fucking planet," Nico gasped, wincing as a vine slapped her in the face.

"Yeah, I feel the same way," Maki panted.

The Poptops thundered behind them, keeping pace apparently with ease. Nico was pretty sure she couldn't keep sprinting forever, but –

"Oh, are you kidding me?"

A building appeared in front of them as the trees thinned into a clearing. The two of them darted up the stairs, pausing as they realised the Poptops weren't following, and then hung over the balcony, puffing, as they realised they were, somehow, safe.

"We were _this close_ to the comm centre, and we stopped last night?" Maki huffed incredulously at Nico.

Nico felt rather dead inside at the realisation.

"Wow, didn't you enjoy our heart-to-heart?"

"I enjoy warm baths more."

"Yeah, that's fair enough."

Once they'd caught their breath, Nico knocked on the door of the communication centre, and waited. Except, well, nothing happened. Maki and Nico exchanged glances, and prepared to break the door down, when suddenly, it opened. A human researcher stepped out, and looked appropriately mortified to find a bedraggled Hylotl and Floran on his doorstep.

"Um…hi?"

A few brief explanations later, the human looked a lot less mortified, and whilst annoyed, had sent a recovery ship to retrieve Nico's nearly-functioning ship.

"We should be able to transport it and yourselves to the nearest Gate. Do you have any particular location you wish to go?"

Nico nodded, gesturing towards herself, "I need to get back to the Protectorate, and this one," she gestured with Maki, "is coming with me."

Maki looked, as expected, bewildered. "What?"

Nico shrugged. "Got anywhere better to go?"

"Well, no…"

The human nodded, and left, apparently to organise their transport.

"He was really helpful," Nico commented, sipping at the tea the researcher had offered.

"Mm. Hey," Maki said, cutting straight to the point, "why am I going with you?"

"You said it yourself, earlier." Nico shrugged, putting her tea down. "You don't have any idea where you're going or what you want to do. The Protectorate will give you a place to stay, and food to eat. You can take your time and decide what you want to do with yourself."

"Oh," Maki looked a little floored. "I didn't know the Protectorate did that sort of thing."

Nico scratched the back of her neck, "Well, they don't usually, but I can probably pull some strings."

"Thanks," Maki offered a small smile, and sipped at her tea. "That's actually really cool of you, considering I uh, crashed into your ship and all."

"Well, I mean," Nico grinned, "That's kind of what a Protector does, y'know?"

"Really..?" The Hylotl sipped at her tea again, and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you guys were all about retrieving lost artefacts and fighting criminals."

"Nah. We do all kinds of stuff."

The room went quiet again as the two of them finished their tea.

"Hey," Maki said, putting her cup down. "Have you ever thought of getting crew for your ship?"

Nico put her cup down, "Uh, well, I mean, I've thought about it a lot. I'd love to have people working for me, but my ship is kinda small at the moment, and I doubt anybody would really want to stick around a Protector that's fresh out of school…"

"True," Maki nodded, "but I mean, it's not like I really have anything else to do. Besides, you'll get hurt on your missions sometimes, right? See, I'm actually a medic – or well, good enough to be. So…"

"Ah," Nico felt her face warm, "Well, if you have nothing better to do, I wouldn't mind a fishy-faced medic tagging along on my path to greatness."

"Deal, then?" Maki held out her hand, soft and webbed between her fingers.

Nico gave a grin, and reached out to shake it.

"Deal."


End file.
